A Question of ScaleThe Soloin'ay Swan lazzWing and Swan NyA _

HE QUESTION OF THEproper stringed-instrumentscale length has intriguedplayers and designers

16A VIXTAGEGUITAR I A

since the daysof Tony

classical guitarist's posture, The smallheadstock and long bass horn allou'the guitar to hang nicely from a strapwithout the imbalance caused by thelengthy ncck.

The Swan lazz Wing acoustic re-sponsc is captivating, Its chamberedbody and extended string length madeeach string responsive. Strung withDAddario Excel.0l ls, string lension issimilar to thatwhich a 25rl:" scalewouldhave with a string set starting with a.012 high E, according to Soloway. Yet,withthe increased string flexibilityanda forgiving action, the fazzWing setupwas quite easy on the left hand.

Plugged intoan Ultrasound AG-50Dacoustic amp, it's easy to marvel at themellow tone drawn from the small-bodied lazzWing Overtones one mightexpect from a big body were, of course,not present, but the long string lengthcolored the sound in a distinctive way.Vibrato and subtle full-chordal bendswere enhanced, and the JW stayed intune. Walking bass lines and blucsyphrases were fat-sounding with goodarticulation, even with the Tone controlrolled off.

Plugged into a Roland 60-wattCube at typical'audible wallpaper"restaurant volume, the combinationof scale, body design, and electronicsproduced a modern jazz guitar rcundwith a natural decay, quite conduciveto a pianistic fingertyle approach.

The Swan NYA, wilh its beauti-ful one-piece figured maple top and

along with the frets of his guitars,with a bass-side scale longer

than the trebh side.fim Solowayb Swan

Line of guitars usc a 22"scalc. lts primary benefit

being greater stringtension, it also allows for

greatcr string flexibil-ity.Andwithouta doubt,

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honeyburstwith scraped hux binding,are Jrclished to a high gloss. The 16"radius fingerboards, cocobolo on the)azz Wing and flamed-maple on theNYA, are fittcd with expertly dresscdand polished large frets. Both havechambered swamp-ash bodies withgcnerous bellycuts, and are 6tted withHipshot bridges customized to accom-modate the long xale, Pickups are byDiMarzio; an EJCustom humbucker inthe lazzWing,a neckand middle Area-T, and a bridge Virtual Solo pickup,all hum-cancelling units, in the NYA.The nreticulouslyrvired electronicsarehoused infu llyshielded compartments.Both,shipped inreinforced foam Kaceswith heavy fabric covers, weigh in atjust over six pounds.

The NYA hardrvare is chrome, andthe fazz Wing is dressed up a bit withgold 6xtures. Both are built with carethat reflects the design put into them.

The physics of scale length, stringtension, and string flexibility might becomplex, but the Jazz Wing, Solowayialternative to the traditional "iazzboxj' presents a simple app€arance.Whar the Swan Jazz Wing lacks ingaudy ornamentation is more thanmade up for in the flowing lines ofboth headstock and body. A one-pie<e0amed rtdwood top is multi-boundwith an understated faux-tortoiseshelloutsidelayer.With alongbass-sidehornand a short treble Venetian cutaway,the offta-waist design allows the fazzWing to sit comfortably, even in a

flamed-maple neck and fin-gertroard, is a difTerent bind.The treble side Florentinecutawaypointsawayfmmthe neck, deep enough totake advantage of theentire 22-fret fi ngerboard.The electronics will befamiliar to anyone whohas played Fenderl mostpopulardesigovaryinginthattheneckand bridgc pickupsare put into combination insteadof the expected neck-and-middlepickup arrangemcnt. SeparateTone potentiometcrs for the neckand bridge pickups, a mastcrVol-ume control, and a five-positionblade selector control the works.

Plugged into a Fender Blues DeVille 4xl0 with an ancient DODPreamp/Overdrive pedal, thcNYE's first declaration came inthe voicingoffu nkrhythm chordsat the l2th fret and beyond; theextended scale allowed clean,close fingerings that would beall but impossible on a Les Paul.Rhythm chords were bright andsparkly from each pickup andcombination sound, with a littleextrd sonic zing due to the longscah.

Goosing theorandrive pedal orthe gain channelallowedtheNYAto burn, with an extra sustain tolong tones with finger vibrato.With a brassslide, we drew pedal

steel-like sounds from theNYA, with little significant

adjustment necessary toaccommodate the ex-tended string length.

Riffing through sololicks with a 1.5 mm phc-trum requires a bit more

, concentration to playI them cleanly, due to the

- greater distance betweenthe frets. However, hammer-

on/pull-off maneuvers benefi tedfrom the extra suing flcxibi.litSand the on-the-money fretworkand setup help overcome initiallimitations on the 27"-scalefingerboard.

The Jazz Wng fu 16lls its prom-is. It would also work nicelyas a swingirf blues guitar. Thevcrsatile NYA also lives up to itsfull name, Not Yet Another, andsounds great in roch funk andcountry applications. Solowryguitars are for players interestedin techniguc. The c.ttra stringlengtlu while greatly enharrcingthe instrumcntb performance,does require a little extra hcus onlefr-hand fecility. And arryhingthat makes a pl4rcr rryork on thcirtechn(ueisa good tbing"becaus€thanrdr, applied to finc instru-ments like the Solorray Swanmo&ls, is an important Frt oftlp creation of an idividuelistksund.-ChipWllwr

Fenderusd25'/ifor his flagship guitars.

Designers who followed Or-ville Cibson used both25tlz" and24\1t".

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